Ottawa reviews F-35 purchase as trade rift with US deepens

Canada is reassessing its planned purchase of US-made F-35 fighter jets amid escalating trade tensions with Washington, a dispute that has increasingly strained relations between the two long-standing allies, The Hill reports.

Ottawa has already committed to acquiring at least 16 F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation fighters produced by Lockheed Martin, as part of a broader 2022 agreement to buy 88 aircraft. Prime Minister Mark Carney is now weighing whether to proceed with the remaining 72 jets, as domestic political pressure, ballooning costs, and a more contentious relationship with US President Donald Trump prompt renewed scrutiny of the deal.

Vincent Rigby, who previously served as national security and intelligence adviser to former prime minister Justin Trudeau, said the escalating rhetoric from Washington has forced Canadian policymakers to reconsider the defence relationship with the United States.

“We defend the North American continent very closely with the United States. I think our national interest in that respect will always converge, we hope,” Rigby said. “At the same time, they’re saying stuff, doing stuff that really puts us in a difficult position.”

“And so one of the things that we’ve been thinking about more and more is we should be buying less from the United States and diversifying our defence relationships, buying more equipment, procuring more stuff from Europe, from the Indo-Pacific region, from countries like South Korea. And this is a big break. This is a real, real departure,” he added.

The F-35 deal has already faced setbacks, with delivery timelines slipping and projected costs rising by more than $27 billion. Carney initiated a formal review of the procurement in March last year, a process that remains ongoing.

Tensions deepened last month when US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra suggested in a CBC interview that if Ottawa opted not to purchase the F-35s, the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) “would have to be altered,” potentially resulting in more frequent US military flights over Canadian airspace. The US State Department later clarified that Hoekstra was not threatening to revise the 1957 agreement, stating that his remarks were about how Canada’s F-35 purchase fits into broader modernization plans.

“If Canada decided to significantly reduce its investment in the F-35, that would create a significant gap in the defence structure of North America,” the department said, adding that “filling that gap is not news, it is common sense.”

Still, Hoekstra’s comments fueled unease in Ottawa. One former Canadian official described them to the CBC as “clearly a political pressure tactic to force the Canadian government’s hand.”

Carney’s government is now considering alternatives, including Sweden’s Saab JAS 39 Gripen, a fourth-generation fighter. While some defence experts argue the Gripen would reduce dependence on the US, others warn that abandoning the F-35 could undermine Canada’s military edge. As Andrea Charron, director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, noted: “As capable as the Gripens are, we cannot deny the fact that they are a different generation fighter.”

By Vafa Guliyeva